Asleep at the Switch

This term came from the railroad days of the 19th century. At the critical moment, the switchman was needed to switch the track and change the course of the train. Waiting for that critical moment was the boring part of the job. Staying awake was also part of the job.

I can identify with this. As a young teenage boy, I had a job driving a wheat truck “in the field” (meaning that I only drove in the wheat field, not being old enough to drive on the road to the elevator). I spent most of the time waiting for the combine to have a full load of wheat. I had to estimate where the combine would be in the field when it became full. Then I was to park next to the uncut wheat ready to follow alongside the combine while we unloaded the wheat into the truck “on the go.”

One morning I parked the truck alongside the wheat. I had estimated correctly. I was exactly where I needed to be. While waiting for the combine to get there, I fell asleep. The truck was an old army truck with the doors removed. As the combine slowly drew closer, I gradually became accustomed to its sound. When it was right beside me (only three feet from the truck), it did not wake me up. It went right on by. What did wake me up was a loud yell from my grandpa (Old Pop), “Hey Butch!” Startled, I jumped out of the truck. (I was still not awake. They told me that this is what I did.) I tried to stand up several times. All I can remember is waking up while I was getting up on my feet. Thankfully, Old Pop was laughing. It was not held against me. However, I had fallen asleep on the job when I was needed.

Paul speaks about this in Romans 14:4, “Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand.” The primary focus is on the person judging the fallen servant. This servant belongs to someone else. 

This is a lesson for us not to be judgmental. Good lesson! I want us to look for a moment at the fallen servant. That has been me many times. It may be you right now. The good news is he shall be held up. God is able to make him stand. Thank you, Jesus!

Sleeping at the wrong time is bound to happen. It can happen in church. It happened to the disciples in the garden. How many opportunities have passed us by because we were asleep? How many wrong decisions have changed the course of our life because we were too asleep to make the right choice? Some of these choices can be very serious, “I wish I had learned to tithe earlier,” ”I wish I had been a godly example to my children,” “I wish I had read the Bible more.” The list could go on and on. 

I know people that wish they had never smoked their first cigarette. We can look back on a moment of failure and live in bondage to it. Even though others may not judge us, we judge ourselves. As I look out my window into the woods I see many trees. It is hard to find one that points perfectly upward to its creator. Many are leaning. Some have dead places. Some have a critical bend. Some are fallen against another tree. If I could go through and cut out all the imperfect trees, there wouldn’t be a forest. We have a forest because God is able to make them stand.

That gives me hope. I may have been asleep at the switch, even causing great damage, but thanks to God, He is able to make me, and you, stand. God made the trees to grow upward. That is His plan for us, too. Look up! Cheer up! Stand up!